ASL (Not the one you think)

October 5, 2015

I done told ya’ll about this Switched at Birth Show!

IT’S SUCH A GOOD SHOW!

I haven’t been watching in real time, but took some time to catch up while getting ready for the work week this weekend. The plot has progressed from being about the girls…being switched…at birth…

…

And like I’ve mentioned before, I really like the POV and themes it covers. More than teen angst, it deals with some pretty illuminating issues. In Season 4 :

The girls are college aged now. Daphne is pre-med. She has to get an interpreter, not just any kind, but one who understands the subject matter so they can translate what the professor is saying in class. This is especially difficult because they don’t necessarily have signs for “potassium hexafluoraluminate” and those words are also hard to lip read.
Emmet is in school for film. He’s also deaf and it sometimes comes into play while they’re on set. For example, when they’re filming something, he opens a bag of chips, not realizing how much noise it makes. They had to reset the take and everyone got mad at him.
Bey gets drunk and has relations with an ex boyfriend. REALLY interesting debate about if it was consensual or if it was rape. Both her and her ex were equally drunk, and neither remember what really happened. He also had no intention to hurt her…like for real. Some believed it was rape, others did not. Points out some interesting conflicts with Title IX that should promote some interesting discussion…
Travis has a problem with writing. ASL has very different grammar than spoken English. They don’t use verb tenses for example. There’s a “teaching” moment (I guess) when one of the characters explains why it’s important for him to learn how to write properly so people can understand him when he’s writing.
Young unmarried couple gets pregnant. He’s a young divorcee without a job. He dates a slightly older woman who pays his bills. They break up when she tells him she has feelings (she hasn’t acted on) for someone else (who has a career)…during the same dinner where he wants to ask her to move in with him. Doesn’t go well. She then finds out she’s pregnant…and that the baby has down syndrome. They’re discussing what they should do….
Death guy with anger issues lashes out, gets in a lot of fights. Turns out he was molested at age 12 and never told anyone…

These are just a few of the issues that come up on the show. Really amazing circumstances… I always talk about exposure to other cultures being important to help lessen “otherness” and this show does a GREAT JOB at it!

Catch it on Netflix from the beginning, and it’s also on ABC Family.